On August 14th, the New England Garrison, along with Alderaan Base, was invited to visit the Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI. We were invited by The Longbox Comic Books and Collectibles comic shop, who brought along a selection of comics and toys for the kids.

We were invited to the cancer unit to bring some smiles to the children there. We had Jedi, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Gunners and even a Jawa. We visited areas under the guidance of hospital personnel. She took us to different wards and was very careful about our access so as to not frighten the children with the masked individuals. We did walk through and if the patients wished a photo taken by their own cameras or parent cameras then we posed with them.The older children were excited as were parents and staff. It was a short troop of perhaps 90 minutes but greatly appreciated by the younglings.

As one person wrote… “Hasbro event was the shot in the arm needed. It helped me smile when we brought smiles to the kids and the staff. It is events such as this that makes this family special.”

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/09/hasbro-childrens-hospital-providence-ri-091415/feed/0Cranston Public Library Mini Comic Con – Cranston, RI – 07/02/15http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/07/cranston-public-library-mini-comic-con-cranston-ri-070215/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/07/cranston-public-library-mini-comic-con-cranston-ri-070215/#respondThu, 16 Jul 2015 15:24:02 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=1190[ Read more ]]]>On July 2nd, the William Hall Library in Cranston, RI presented the Cranston Public Library Mini Comic Con. This event was held to promote the library’s summer reading program, and the New England Garrison was happy to help out with such a great cause.

The library went all out. They had a costume contest, a photo booth, comic book give-aways, crafts, video gaming, Minecraft, local comic book artists, a display of comic book art by local teens and refreshments.

Our troopers report it was a nice little troop. They were even joined by a Rebel Pilot for the Rebel Legion, as well as “Iron Patriot”, aka War Machine, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Our host was great from the start, with plenty of space for us to hang out. She thanked us for coming. It was a great day for everyone there!

On Wednesday, June 10th, the New England Garrison was once again invited back to attend and event with Hasbro, in Providence, RI. This time it was for their Global Sales Meeting.

Troopers were asked to stand guard at various entrances and be available for photo ops with Hasbro senior region leaders who were in attendance. The crowd were really polite and many of them wanted pictures with us. They had a professional photo booth there, not the rent a booth kind, but a professional photographer with a back drop and lighting, props for the guests to use, and of course, Stormtroopers!

A big thank you to Heather, our wrangler that night. She got some nice candid pics of us. Professional wrangler that she is! And a big thank you to Hasbro for the meal as well. They put out a spread that would have fed 20 people!

Here’s to a continuing relationship with Hasbro. With all the new movies (and toys!) to come over the next few years, we’re sure they will keep calling the NEG!

On May 30th, the Hugh Cole Elementary School in Warren, RI held it’s first Family Fun Day! The event included activities, food, an art contest, raffles, and of course, the New England Garrison. The day helped to raise money for the school’s Parent Teacher Organization.

Our troopers had a great time, even though it was a hot day! There was a nice steady flow of people who wanted to see our troopers up close and in person. Everyone was nice,offering drinks and lunch, even if here were a couple of future Jedi keeping close tabs on us bad guys. Besides the 501st they also had a fire truck, a karate demonstration, and the “P” Bruins mascot. Our host, Mike, was very appreciative!

By the sounds of it, this may become an annual tradition for the Hugh Cole Elementary School, and we welcome the chance to come back again in the future!

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/06/hugh-cole-elementary-school-warren-ri-053015/feed/0Hasbro – Providence, RI – 05/27/15http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/06/hasbro-providence-ri-052715/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/06/hasbro-providence-ri-052715/#respondSun, 07 Jun 2015 04:59:14 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=1139On Wednesday, May 27th, members of the 501st Legion’s New England Garrison where invited to an evening with Hasbro, in Providence, RI.
Vader and his honor guard of Stormtroopers had a great night mingling with Hasbro employees and customers. It was a party atmosphere, and everyone wanted their photo taken with our guys!
A big thank you to Hasbro for their generaouity, and to Heather, our wrangler for the evening. Trooper reported that she went “above and beyond!”. Thank you very much!
]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/06/hasbro-providence-ri-052715/feed/0Ryder Windham book signing at Books on the Square – Providence RI – 05/02/15http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/05/ryder-windham-book-signing-at-books-on-the-square-providence-ri-050215/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/05/ryder-windham-book-signing-at-books-on-the-square-providence-ri-050215/#respondMon, 11 May 2015 00:24:27 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=1110[ Read more ]]]>Our old pal, Ryder Windham, had a book signing appearance at Books on the Square, in Providence RI. He was there for his new book, “Ultimate Star Wars”. Unfortunately, it was a small turn out for The New England Garrison due to the face that it was also Free Comic Book Day.

Thankfully, we did have one trooper come to the signing after trooping at Rah Co-Co’s Collectibles for FCBD. None the less, Mr. Windham was happy for the help! He stated “I was delighted that you could make it to Books on the Square. You’re a Super Trooper! I was even more glad that we had time to yack after the event.” A big thank you to the trooper who made it!

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/05/ryder-windham-book-signing-at-books-on-the-square-providence-ri-050215/feed/0Free Comic Book Day – 05/02/15http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/05/free-comic-book-day-050215/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/05/free-comic-book-day-050215/#respondMon, 11 May 2015 00:01:24 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=1108[ Read more ]]]>May 2nd was the annual Free Comic Book Day. The New England Garrison made appearances at locations all over the region!

Double Midnight Comics in Manchester, NH – This is certainly the largest Free Comic Book Day event we participated in! We had one trooper who even appeared in three different costumes in the course of the day. And, another one of our troopers won the costume contest! It was a great event for costumers of all types, not just the NEG.

Rah-CoCo’s Collectables in Providence, RI – A small event, but it allowed one of our new recruits to see how things work. The guys from Rah-CoCo’s were, as always, very cool, and it’s a great store to visit. So much to see!

Earth Prime Comics in Burlington, VT – This was a great gathering of our Vermont Troopers, including two who trooped for the first time. The crowd was fantastic: lots of really excited kids and families, college students and others. We had a couple of people recognize us and mention that they’d be interested in joining, and one of our recruits came by for a visit as well.

Casablanca Comics in Portland, ME – This is a great event every year, and this year was no different! The doors opened at 10:00am, but people were lining up as early as 9:00! The Wampa Clan from the Mando Mercs joined us for the troop. And, one trooper debuted his son’s new Jawa costume! The only down side of the day was that the cold breeze kept us from walking to the other comic shop a few blocks away.

Rochester, NH – This is a town wide event that is spread out over many stores downtown. This is a great local event that the town really embarrasses! And it’s always fun for our troopers!

TK-16127 attended and reported back… “What a great troop! The theme of the banquet was started with the scout leader as a Jedi doing mind tricks on me protecting his cubs. I even had lines to memorize! They worked me into their award ceremony, right down to cutting the cake for the kids. The cake even had a light and dark side. They put a lot of effort into it and I was glad to be a part of it.” Great Work Trooper!

And congratulations to Pack 2 on their annual celebration!

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/03/blue-gold-banquest-pack-2-newport-ri-030215/feed/0Rah-CoCo’s Collectibles – Providence, RI – 01/17/15http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/02/rah-cocos-collectibles-providence-ri-011715/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2015/02/rah-cocos-collectibles-providence-ri-011715/#respondMon, 09 Feb 2015 20:35:17 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=1021With the re-launch of Star Wars comics by Marvel Comics, Rah-CoCo’s Collectibles in Providence, RI invited The New England Garrison to attend their event celebrating the day. To help mark the fact that Disney/Lucasfilm is bringing the comic series back to the original publisher, the store also had local comic & sci-fi creators attending.

Troopers in attendance said it was a small outing, by “the store owners were very nice to us. Everyone else was very cool as well.” Thank you to everyone who attended and helped mark this historic event in the Star Wars timeline!

On December 27th, 2014, members of the 501st New England Garrison, along with the Rebel Legion Alderaan Base and the Mando Mercs Firaxan Clan were invited to join our new Andorian friends Ell and Vynni – The Farthest Star and other Star Trek costumers for annual the Galaxy Blood Drive. Organized by author Ryder Windham and the The Rhode Island Blood Center, the event was held at the Providence Public Library.

Not only was this a “Wars vs Trek” event, it also had a touch of West vs East, as there was a competing blod drive being held on the same day the Cloud City Garrison and Kashyyyk Base – Oregon/SW Washington. In Providence, Star Wars won, 14 to 7 pints. The RI Blood center said these 21 pints were more than they normally average during Christmas week. (No word yet on how we did in comparison to the west coast.)

During the weekend of November 1st, members of the New England Garrison and Alderaan Base attended the 3rd Annual Rhode Island Comic Con in Providence.

While the con had some issues with overcrowding, which lead to some ticket holders from being locked out for a period, the weekend was a big success for the NEG. We raised a grand total of $1414.74 for the Hasbro Children’s Hospital. There was also a Blood Drive at the con, which collected 49 pints of “the good stuff”.

The Garrison booth was, as always, very popular with the convention attendies. One couple even got married in the trash compactor. Congrats to Mathew and Melanie!

We also had visitors from other garrisons stop by.

Firebatt from Garrison Carida said “I want to thank everyone for making this tusken feel welcome. people ask me why drive over 8 hours to get there, Ii answer by saying trooping with the NEG at the con is worth the long trip. I really hope there is a next time

Myna Sturnidae from Excelsior Garrison said “It was a pleasure trooping with everyone at RICC. Thank you all for making David and I feel welcome Worth the 5-hour drive to make new friends, raise funds for charity and bring smiles to many younglings.”

On Sunday, September 21st members of the 501st New England Garrison paid a special visit to a very special person. Peter Allen dreamed of joining the 501st but unfortunately was diagnosed with ALS before he could finish his TIE Pilot costume. So members of the garrison took it upon themselves to finish the costume for Peter and make sure that his dream came true. Welcome to the 501st Legion pilot!!!

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/10/peter-allen-ti-77400-westerly-ri-092114/feed/0World Blood Donor Day – Warwick, RI – 06/14/14http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/09/world-blood-donor-day-warwick-ri-061414/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/09/world-blood-donor-day-warwick-ri-061414/#respondThu, 04 Sep 2014 22:08:50 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=888[ Read more ]]]>On Saturday, June 14th members of the Rebel Legion – Alderaan Base and the 501st New England Garrison participated in the world-wide event known as World Blood Donor Day! Blood banks and hospitals all over the globe hosted blood drives in their area to encourage locals to get out and donate this vital and much needed, life saving resource. Local author and Alderaan Base member Ryder Windham was the driving Force behind this effort and spent countless hours working with Legion members to help them connect with local blood banks.

To learn more about how you can donate blood please contact your local blood bank or hospital or visit the American Red Cross website. http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood

On Saturday, June 7th members of the 501st New England Garrison and the Rebel Legion – Alderaan Base participated in the 5th annual Star Wars game held at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI. Troopers made the rounds and visited fans before the game, then took to the field where Emperor Palpatine threw out the ceremonial first pitch! Afterwards the troopers occupied two different photo booths along the 1st and 3rd base sides and posed for more pictures. While greeting fans at these photo booths staff members from the Paw Sox were asking for donations to help support their charitable organization. When all was said and done the photo booths, along with a contribution by the Paw Sox from their 50/50 raffle, we raised a total of $2,122 for the Pawtucket Red Sox Charitable Organization, which donates money to dozens of local charities and programs in the area. Then we capped off the night with a Paw Sox victory and an impressive fireworks show.

To see more photos from this event click on this link and check out our Flickr gallery. https://www.flickr.com/photos/swnewengland/sets/72157645117054775/

]]>http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/06/star-wars-night-with-the-paw-sox-pawtucket-ri-060714/feed/0Bi-Coastal Blood Drive – Providence, RI – 12/28/13http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/02/bi-coastal-blood-drive-providence-ri-122813/
http://www.501neg.com/commlink/2014/02/bi-coastal-blood-drive-providence-ri-122813/#respondSat, 01 Feb 2014 15:15:49 +0000http://www.501neg.com/commlink/?p=795[ Read more ]]]>
On Saturday, December 28th we saw two universes collide while working together to help the Rhode Island Blood Center collect donations. Members of the local Star Wars costuming groups worked alongside fans of the Star Trek franchise and held a friendly competition to see who could get more people to donate blood for their team. In addition to the efforts taking place here at the RI Blood Center, an identical blood drive was being held in Colorado by members of the 501st Cloud City Garrison. All of this was made possible by local Star Wars author Ryder Windham, who is an avid supporter of the Rhode Island Blood Center.
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